Secret codes are sprinkled throughout The Blackthorn Key. Just as Tom (and we) might expect, things go disastrously wrong. He convinces his best friend, Tom, to help him with the experiment. But Christopher has cracked the code, and naturally wants to try it out. His master, Benedict Blackthorn, has written his recipe for gunpowder in code, so rivals – and naughty apprentices – can’t decipher it. On the day before his fourteenth birthday in 1665 London, apothecary’s apprentice Christopher Rowe decides to build a cannon. That’s just one of the reasons I love The Blackthorn Key so much. To be honest, I never completely outgrew my fascination with codes. I’m guessing some of you had a similar phase. I tried to rope my friends, my little sister, even my teachers, into trading messages with me using a variety of secret strategies. I read books about how to create and crack codes. I went through a serious secret-code phase when I was a kid. Secret Codes, Secret Societies, Secret Passages…
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Recently, I’ve had someone comment on one of my posts saying how they disagree with my choices for a particular fancast on here, and while I’m totally okay with not having everyone agree with me on everything, they lost all credibility with me when they decided to be rude, disrespectful, and just downright unpleasant for absolutely no reason…there’s nothing wrong with just saying you don’t agree with someone and simply leaving it at that but the negativity and overall just plain nastiness is just so unnecessary… Welcome back to another one of my fancasting posts that seem to be my most popular content on here, which is more than okay with me considering it’s something I really enjoy doing for myself as well as for those who keep returning to this little passion project of mine that is having a book blog running for over two years now. Her historical romances have been critically acclaimed and won numerous awards, most recently including Australian Romance Readers' Favourite Historical Romance for Captive of Sin and Favourite Romance Author for 2009. Once she discovered the wonderful world of romance novels, she knew exactly what she wanted to write. But despite the different sub-genres, readers are drawn to what's important to them – love, relationships and the promise of a happy ending – which still makes romance fiction one of the highest selling genres today, and a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide.Īlways a voracious reader, Anna Campbell decided when she was a child that she wanted to be a writer. Stories about these big issues will always be relevant," said Anna Campbell.įrom Twilight's vampire-driven plots to the traditional Mills and Boon variety, today's romance is served in a range of different packages. Romance is about the profound things in life – love, courage, endurance, trust, family. 'Readers still love that emotional punch, and love being swept away by a powerful romantic story. And she believes romance is here to stay. Voted Australia's Favourite Romance Author in 2009, Anna Campbell has built a stellar career setting hearts aflutter and book sales soaring with her steamy, award-winning novels. There's still an enormous appetite for a good romance, according to a leading name in the fiction business. I figured she'd at least turn out to be a bastard daughter, but nope. (And being an exact duplicate of someone you're not related to? Yeah, that stretches belief. You can't keep seeing through manipulation & still be surprised when you're treated like crap.yet she was. Miranda herself had quite a journey, but she was dense & not particularly interesting. There was no legit reason for Thorne & Gregory to be so devoted. Sauron in LotR), otherwise their villainy is cardboard & obnoxious.as was the case here. Even the cruelest villain requires *something* sympathetic (aside from those rare 'pure evil' characters, e.g. Indeed, the last 150-odd pgs are easily the best of the book, & would have been better in an overall product half the length.Īside from the meandering descriptions - well-written, yes, but still annoyingly long-winded - the biggest flaw is that Amanda has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. That said, the original adult version is way too long, lingering (needlessly?) over endless descriptions of clothes, furniture, scenery, architecture, housekeeping, & social issues of late Edwardian England. The central topics - abusive mistresses, social/class upheaval, sexual manipulation, bigamy, & the ridiculous loss of life on the Titanic - wouldn't fit properly in a mid-grade frame. Apparently there's an abridged middle-grade version of this novel, & I'm sure it's horrible. Interview with Ann Bannon by Anna Maria Tremonti, Podcast interview with Ann Bannon by Dagni Rose for The Wild Orchid, Gay Spinning On Air, WNYC Radio, Sunday, November 26, 2006. Interview with Ann Bannon by David Garland and Hyperion Press, New York, NY Īnn Bannon with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross in 2003 Published as “You Will Not Find the Word ‘Lesbian’” inĪll I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Interview with Ann Bannon by Terry Gross, on Freshīroadcast, Decemrebroadcast August 28, 2003. The High Bar w/ Warren Etheredge & Ann Bannon (Ep. Interview with Ann Bannon by Warren Etheredge, on The High Bar, KBTC Seattle. Interview with Ann Bannon by Iain McIntyre on 3CR Radio, Melbourne, Australia, December 24, 2013: © Copyright Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) do not share without express written permission. Video produced and edited by Liz McMullen. Interview with Ann Bannon by Liz McMullen, at the Golden Crown Literary Society’s annual conference, July 2014, in Portland, Oregon. “Lesbian Pulp, Career Girls, & Bruce Vilanch” radio interview with Ann, novelist Monica Nolan, and actor Bruce Vilanch on the show Out In the Bay, May 2014 NEW Below: Clip from a forthcoming documentary, “Legacies of Lesbian Literature,” featuring an interview with Ann. NEW Ann was interviewed for a newly released book Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats, about mass market pulp fiction. She had to know, when writing said books, that the events were not portrayed accurately-and that annoyed me. She is a great historian, and I believe that her shortcomings in two previous books I've read by her are that she knowingly fictionalizes events far too much. That said, I would trust Margaret George to an extent. I'm not historian, but I am very, very fascinated by certain people, and Cleopatra is one of them. The story we all know is told now from an entirely new light: not through the victor, Octavian's, but through the eyes of Cleopatra herself. From her earliest memories, to her dying breaths, all is told through ten "scrolls", carefully entrusted to her faithful-sarcastic-physician and childhood friend, Olympos. Brought to life by George's writing, it's now she who tells her story. Summary: Cleopatra, the doomed Egyptian queen, is known throughout the world as a temptress, seducing two of the most powerful men to ever live: Julius Caesar, and Marc Antony. That your eyes will feast on apocalypse smut, that the world will literally burn but the heroine will be busy gawking at the sculpted abs of the human incubator of plague and judging the people who try to kill him in order to save their families and, you know, MANKIND. ➸ ACCEPT that you WILL NOT dive into a dark, paranormal, heart-pounding adventure. That is necessary if you do not wish to spend your entire reading experience hearing the voices in your head screaming .not.right. ➸ IF you were weak like me and gave in to the temptress called Cover, you must be prepared to shut your moral compass. This is the first step towards your doom. ➸ DO not, I repeat do not, let mind-blowingly beautiful covers seduce you. Like to discuss my books? Join my Goodreads fan page HERE or my Facebook fan page HEREĮmail: Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse Never want to miss a release? Sign up for my newsletter HERE When not writing, Laura can be found scarfing down guacamole, hoarding chocolate for the apocalypse, or curled up on the couch with a good book. She now lives happily ever after with her undead prince in a castle in the woods. She’s been brought back to life twice, and, with a single kiss, she woke her true love from eternal sleep. Found in the forest when she was young, Laura Thalassa was raised by fairies, kidnapped by werewolves, and given over to vampires as repayment for a hundred year debt. When I'm plotting my books, I think of Von Arnim, and try to balance the dark with some lighter characterisation. (Very different from the kind I write!).I remain in awe of a writer who can produce an enthralling story out of so little. Times Literary SupplementĪ genuine feeling for color and for beauty New York TimesĪ warm and uplifting book. With this bracing element there is additionally what can only be called a feast of flowers, hanging from every wall and pouring scent over the company. The Enchanted April sounds as if it would be an appallingly cloying cream puff of a fairy tale, but that would be to ignore that the author habitually kept a pot of lemon juice mixed with vinegar beside her ink-pot. This delicious confection will work its magic on all Daily Telegraph All Emma, Mark, and Julian have to do is solve the murders within two weeks…and before the murderer targets them.T heir search takes Emma from sea caves full of sorcery to a dark lottery where death is dispensed. This is Emma’s chance for revenge-and Julian’s chance to get back his brother Mark, who is being held prisoner by the faerie Courts. When the bodies of humans and faeries turn up murdered in the same way Emma’s parents were when she was a child, an uneasy alliance is formed. Shoulder to shoulder with her parabatai, Julian Blackthorn, she patrols the streets of Los Angeles, where vampires party on the Sunset Strip, and faeries-the most powerful of supernatural creatures-teeter on the edge of open war with Shadowhunters. Emma Carstairs is a warrior, a Shadowhunter, and the best in her generation. Parabatai can be everything to each other-but they can never fall in love. Book Blurb: In a secret world where half-angel warriors are sworn to fight demons, parabatai is a sacred word. "Tell me a story you have never told anyone before. Lying in bed with Eva Luna, he asks her to tell him a story. A treasure trove of brilliantly crafted tales, the book showed us once again why Eva Luna and her much-celebrated creator have won such a large and devoted readership.We begin with Rolf Carlé, the European refugee, journalist, and lover who figured so largely in Eva Luna. Her most ambitious novel up to that time, Eva Luna was described by the Washington Post as "a cascade of stories tumbles out before the reader, stories vivid, passionate and human." Returning to this tale by popular demand, Allende unveiled The Stories of Eva Luna in 1991. In 1988, she introduced the world to Eva Luna, in a novel of the same name that recounted the adventurous life of a poor young Latin American woman who finds friendship, love, and some measure of worldly success through her powers as a storyteller. Isabel Allende now ranks as one of the world's most beloved authors. |